Who Knew?
by PotterWhoYoutuber
Summary: Who knew that something like this could happen? A L/J fanfiction that unfortunately has an awful summary! Rated T just to be safe :)


**_A/N: _****_Well hiya! This is my first EVER marauders fanfiction on here! How exciting! So far I haven't actually finished the story and I am strange and don't write plans so this story could go in ANY direction. It will probably be a long time until this gets updated, sorry! So please be patient and nice with me! Also thought I would mention what I'm doing with this story. Those of you who have read a lot of L/J fics will know that so many of them run under the pretense of them being Head Boy and Girl and getting together that way. So I thought I would make this focus on other things than their positions in the school, as I don't want to follow the crowd. So if you think that maybe I shouldn't take that approach, feel free to let me know as this story can be changed very easily! Don't get me wrong, they are still the Heads, but I didn't want that to be the reason they got together, because to me that feels over done, and lets face it, nearly every marauders fanfic writer has done it that way! Even I have, on a past fanfiction that will never be uploaded! _**

**_I'm now rambling and keeping you from the story, so please, enjoy, review, and tell me what you think! _**

**_Chapter 1- Surprised Lilies and surprise Parties._**

"POTTER!"

Everyone heard the scream. No one was surprised. Lily Evans had been screaming that name in anger for the past 6 years. She absolutely loathed the poor boy, for no apparent reason. Many students at Hogwarts had put it down to Lily just needing someone to scream at after a hard day. James Potter was always on the receiving end of her wrath, sometimes innocent, sometimes deserving. He and his band of friends terrorised the school with their pranks, which everyone couldn't help but admit were creative and successful, using some advanced magic. Even Lily had admitted it to her friends; however she was a bit tipsy on firewhisky, and probably would have kissed anyone, even James. The crux of the matter was that James was completely infatuated with Lily, and had been since their first day.

But for the first time, the entire Gryffindor common room was treated to a very rare sight, one that surprised the lot of them. Lily Evans, instead of walking in red faced with anger, was rather calm. Having just screamed her nemesis' name in anger, she usually would find every fault with the Gryffindor students, telling boys to tuck in their shirts and girls to remove their heavy make-up. But she walked straight through the common room, without uttering a word, and up the spiral stairs to her dormitory.

When she arrived, however, she didn't even make it to her bed. She collapsed on the closed door, head in her hands, sobbing frustrated, angry and sorrowful tears. He had never made her this upset before, and she knew that this was the last straw. She couldn't take one more day being Head girl with him. When Lily felt a comforting arm on her shoulder, she quickly realised she had not been alone and wiped away her tears, only for a fresh set to settle on her cheeks. It was Alice, her best friend, who was comforting her, and she was the only person Lily could face seeing when she got upset.  
"What did he do this time?" Alice asked softly, with a hint of hatred. She didn't care that the Marauders were the most desirable boys in Hogwarts. She didn't care that James was good-looking and smart and funny. She hated anyone who upset Lily.  
"He…He…Oh Alice, it wasn't even his fault this time. I just completely lost it. It was Se-Se-Sevs fault." At the mention of her childhood friend, Lily let out a few more sobs. Severus Snape had been her friend ever since she found out she was a witch. He, in fact, was the one who told her. But he had been sorted into Slytherin, and had made the wrong sort of friends. Lily thought that she could keep him from completely joining them, but this just proved it.  
"He called me a…mudblood" The word tasted vile on her tongue, and she couldn't believe that it had come out of Sev's mouth.  
"I'm confused, Lil. What does this have to do with Potter?" Alice asked, keeping her soft, comforting tone.  
"He was being stupid. He tried to protect me! I don't need protecting! He started hexing Sev, then when I finally made them stop he said that next time something like that happens, I should just go straight to him and he would punish him! At that point I started screaming at him, I told him I loathed the very sight of him, that he should just go and drown himself in the Black Lake…" Her babble trailed off as a realisation washed over her. She was feeling guilty. Guilty! For insulting the person she hated! But, even she had to admit, that it was rather harsh telling him to drown himself. After all, he was only trying to protect her! He shouldn't have though, she doesn't need protecting!

The internal battle continued for quite some time, until Alice snapped her out of her conflict filled reverie.  
"I'm confused, Alice. I feel guilty, like I should apologise. Maybe I shouldn't have been too harsh. He was, after all, trying to do good. He does like me, although like is too weak a word, obsession fits better. But I'm just a trophy for him! He only wants me because I refuse to succumb to his charms! If o-" Alice put a finger to her lips, silencing the second babble of the day.  
"Look. If you want my honest opinion, I think that you should apologise. Or at least call a truce. Agree to disagree. Just, for the love of Merlin, stop fighting! It just annoys the entire school! I think this is the one chance to finally stop it. I'm not saying confess your undying love for him and get married, you only need to stop fighting!" Alice said, as calm as ever. Whilst Lily was very clever, Alice always seemed to be the voice of wisdom in situations like this. Lily nodded without conviction, and sat on her bed to do her homework.  
For nearly the first time in Lily's school-life, she was unable to concentrate. James Potter was the only thing she could think about. After an hour, she still hadn't finished the first paragraph of her Transfiguration essay, so she decided on finishing it in the common room. There she could finally be at peace with her thoughts, because it was nearing eleven now so everyone would be in bed. She hoped.

As Lily tiptoed her way down the stairs, a voice made her start. She stood very still, barely breathing so as to not alert the students that she was there. After a moment, she realised it was Remus. Whilst still being a marauder, Remus Lupin was one of Lily's friends. Maybe even one of her best friends. Her teachers nearly always paired them up, as both of them were highly intellectual and consistently got Os in all of their projects. She also was one of the few people in the school who knew about his _condition_. Remus Lupin was a werewolf, something that most people feared and many hated. He was believed to be a monster, and even he thought that most of the time. Lily tried to convince him that he was not, and whilst he said he believed her, his eyes said otherwise. Tonight wasn't a full moon, so Lily knew that wouldn't be the reason he was down here.  
She made her way into the common room and was faced with a sight she never liked to see. Remus was with Potter, who was lying on the ground. Lily got ready with some sort of reason for why he shouldn't do that and was preparing to take away points for being out of bed, but she stopped herself when she saw his condition. He was covered in blood. The sight made her feel sick, but she swallowed any fear she had and approached them.  
"Remus! What happened?" Lily gasped as she saw the severity of his injuries. He had a huge gash on his forehead, which oozed the garish liquid onto the carpet. The rest of his body held smaller lacerations and he was covered in bruises.  
"Prank gone wrong" He said in a small strained voice. James' face was white as a sheet, and he was losing consciousness, his eyes rolled back into his head. He was mumbling and with every minute that passed his incoherent noises became softer and softer. Lily tried to remove herself emotionally from the situation and set herself into Head Girl mode.  
"Remus, run and get the nurse. I can perform simple healing spells for the bruises but the gash needs professional help." She said, almost business like. When Remus didn't move she pushed him out of the door then quickly returned to James.

He had gained a little more consciousness, but it was small and he probably was not aware of the situation. Lily set to work healing his smaller injuries, muttering the spell so she did not wake the other students. The last thing she needed was a crowd of gossiping Gryffindors, who would go on to twist the story. They would say that Lily lost her temper and lashed out at her Head Boy, others would say it was similar to the muggle story of Romeo and Juliet, a tragic love story. No, what she needed right now was silence so that she could concentrate.  
When she had finished healing his smaller injuries, she felt a warmth on her hand. She looked down and saw James' hand resting on hers. She couldn't help but smile when she saw what would have been a triumphant grin on James' lips, had he not been injured.

The moment was lost when Professor McGonagall burst into the Common room, with the Nurse and a frightened looking Remus in tow. The Transfiguration Professor levitated James' now unconscious body and left the common room. Remus and Lily followed with the nurse with trepidation, afraid that James' injuries would suffice a trip to St Mungo's.  
Professor McGonagall lowered James' body onto a hospital bed, then shepherded the two conscious seventh years into her office.  
"Now what on earth caused such an injury to Mr Potter?!" She inquired in a shrill voice, obviously afraid there was an attack loose in the school.  
Lily looked at her feet awkwardly. All she could think about was James' hand on hers back in the common room. Surely he meant it as a means of thanks? Or was it something more than that? And why, for Merlin's sake, did she enjoy the sensation of his calloused hands on her small soft ones? She was supposed to apologise to him and forget about his entire existence, not start a hand-holding relationship! Remus's answer shook her from her thoughts.  
"It was no one's fault, honestly Professor. It was James' idea actually. We were going to decorate the common room…" He trailed off, glancing at Lily with a strained look.  
"That's not all, is it Mr Lupin?" Professor McGonagall inquired, her sharp eyes seemingly looking into Remus' soul, rendering any lies completely useless.  
"No…He wanted to throw a surprise party…for, well for you, Lily" He turned to face a very shocked Lily, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.  
Lily wasn't just amazed at the fact that in all the confusion she had forgotten her birthday was the next day, she was astounded at James. He wanted to throw a surprise party for her, even after the hurtful words she had thrown at him?  
Remus looked eager to get off the subject, so hurriedly continued.  
"And then he was trying to put up some decorations but wanted to do it the 'muggle way' for some reason, and he fell, making the ladder fall onto him." He said quickly.  
"Right then," Professor McGonagall broke the approaching awkward silence, "You two are dismissed. You can visit Mr Potter in the morning" She ushered them out into the dark corridor, pushing them in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

Neither of them had spoken a word until they reached the Portrait Hole, and that was only to utter the password. Once in the soft light of the fire, Lily suddenly found the whole situation rather funny.  
"He wanted to throw a surprise party for me?!" She laughed, still not believing it. Remus started to laugh with her as they sat on the red sofa in front of the fire. They let out all their pent up emotion through laughter, and felt the fire in their eyes, that had dimmed for James, burn bright once more. After their outburst of mirth, Remus looked at his watch. Upon seeing the time, he ran around the room searching for something. He pulled out a red and gold package from underneath a chair, and made his way back to Lily.  
"Happy birthday, Lily." He smiled, handing her the package. Noticing Lily's confused face he added, "It was James' idea, but it's from all of us. We all contributed, James, Sirius, Peter, Alice and I" Lily returned his smile and hastened to open the present. Underneath the Gryffindor themed paper was a small box. She carefully opened it, to reveal a beautiful sight. Inside was a small silver necklace, with two enchanted charms, a book which opened and closed and a lily whose petals swayed as if in a breeze. Lily was amazed, she had never been given such a beautiful gift in all her life. Her parents did not earn a lot of money, so any money that was not spent on food was used for practical gifts, like books. She leapt up from the sofa and encircled Remus in a hug.  
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She whispered excitedly in his ear.  
"It's not me you should thank, James chose it!" he said as he returned the hug.

Lily was so very confused now. Not only had they shared a little…moment, but James Potter, the boy who she had despised for so long, was planning a party for her, and bought her a beautiful gift! Last year he too would have laughed at the very notion of it, but here he was, being chivalrous and , well, nice! Lily excused herself to bed, it was past midnight by now but what she really needed was some time to herself, to mull over that night's events. However, her body disagreed with her, for as soon as her head hit the pillow exhaustion pulled her into a deep sleep with, thankfully, meaningless dreams.


End file.
